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Developing a New Park in Eastgate

Bellevue is continuing its master planning process for its Eastgate Area Properties project, a new park in Eastgate at 2997 160th Avenue SE. The Parks and Community Services Board will brief the city council on January 4th to present a preferred design alternative and park name. The current location, which is city-owned property, consists of three-parcels made up of an old airfield and a storm water management pond. Access to the park will be facilitated by a new two-lane road currently being constructed by Schnitzer West, the developer of The Bravern, which is building a new office park to the south.

Eastgate Area Properties as it currently stands (courtesy City of Bellevue)

There are three design alternatives narrowed down and modified from an initial five, all of which are identical with the exception of a small section in the east-central corner of the plan:

Alternative A
A second multi-use synthetic turf field with stadium lights.

Alternative B
An off-leash dog park, of which entry/exit will be provided by two access points.

Alternative C
An indoor multi-use recreational building.

Over the course of September and October, the Parks Board adopted a recommendation of Alternative A as the preferred master plan, which it will officially present to the city council next Monday. Due to the absence of a dog park from this alternative, the Board further recommended that an off-leash dog area be created at nearby Robinswood Park, using funds from the Eastgate Area Properties project. A path is expected to connect both parks after completion.

‘Airfield Park’, the preferred name, heeds to the land’s former use as a airport, which boasted nearly 51,000 takeoffs and landings per year in the 70s. The name was selected from the following list of candidates:
-Airfield Meadow Community Park
-Bellegate Community Park
-Eastgate Meadows Community Park
-Meadowlands Community Park
-Phantom Ridge Community Park
-Phantom Woods Community Park
-Spirit Ponds Community Park
-Spirit Run Community Park

Over the next few months, the City will continue to collect community input as well as conduct an environmental analysis of the project. The council is expected to adopt a master plan and park name sometime by the end of Q1 2010. You can submit input on the three design alternatives as well as the candidate names here.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.